Morocco blocks Ikea store amid reported diplomatic rift

Ikea was consequently denied a permit to open its store on Tuesday at a shopping center around 30 kilometers away from Casablanca. According to a report in Retail Week, about 300 workers had been hired and the 270,000-square-feet store was prepped for shoppers.

A website known for close ties to the Moroccan royal palace, Le 360, reported that the decision was linked to Swedish support for the Western Saharan independence movement. From the late 19th century onward, the area was controlled by Spain, but in 1975 the Spanish relinquished control of the area – in part because of a growing insurgency led by the nomadic Sahrawi people indigenous to the land.

Moroccan authorities have blocked the opening of IKEA’s first store in the North African kingdom planned for Tuesday because it lacked a “conformity permit”, a statement from the Interior Ministry said on Monday. “After Algeria, Sweden is the country that is most hostile to the territorial integrity of Morocco”, he charged.

Several dozen countries have recognized the independence of Western Sahara, primarily in Africa.

The decision was taken at a snap meeting on Monday attended by representatives of eight parliamentary parties, wrote Morocco World News.

And Inter Ikea Systems, the group which owns the worldwide chain, said the franchise was still working to open in Morocco.

Le 360 reported that Sweden plans to recognize the independence of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

However, a local paper claimed the real reasons for the last-minute impediment lay in Sweden’s plan to recognise Western Sahara, a long stretch of desert on the Atlantic coast, as a country.

The current centre-left coalition of prime minister Stefan Löfven has been more hawkish than its predecessor on worldwide issues of self-determination, notably taking the historic step of officially recognising the state of Palestine in 2014.

Sweden is among a small number of nations (some others in Scandinavia and a few in the African Union) who have supported Polisario Front’s push for a Sahrawi Republic. It is headquartered in the Netherlands.